Uncockblockable (Evan Arden 2.5)

Maybe, but the bouncer knew me, so that probably wasn’t going to be a problem. What would she tell him, anyway? Was I doing something wrong? I couldn’t stop looking at her eyes to know if I was or not.

I still couldn’t form words.

I could only stare.

The beautiful-eyed girl threw her cigarette on the ground and put her hands on her hips. It was pretty obvious that she was about to start yelling at me – I could see it in the way her eyes blazed with brilliant color.

Her friend stepped between us, blocked my view, and broke the spell.

“Come on, Milena,” Bethany said.

Milena.

It might have been the most beautiful name I had ever heard, which I pondered a little before I realized I was standing there, dumbfounded again. Her eyes continued to flash in anger at me, and they were magnificent. I couldn’t stop looking at them and didn’t even hear what she and her friend were saying before they turned away from me and walked quickly down the street to a taxi stand.

No doubt – I had been completely cockblocked.

By me.

Chapter 4

Sometimes I wished I wasn’t at all famous.

Or infamous.

Whatever.

Dad had been pretty insistent about me hanging around his group instead of just my usual friends. He didn’t seem interested in telling me what the hell was going on, but I didn’t usually ask a lot of questions, either. I heard a lot just from being in the vicinity of the people who worked closest to him, but I wasn’t all that involved, so he left me out of the details most of the time.

It was rare that he dictated my actions, but I also knew Evan had been quite the busy little hit man of late and that all of the hits had been on a group of Russians who had recently moved into the area. Whatever was going on, he must have felt somewhat threatened, which meant my companions when I went out drinking included a group of his goons.

I didn’t mind – they were mostly good guys to hang with, anyway. Besides, my mind was elsewhere, and I didn’t focus on the family business dealings much.

More than anything, I couldn’t seem to get my mind off Milena – the blonde with the exotic, incredible eyes. I had made a completely uncharacteristic fool of myself, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I was used to being all smooth and always getting exactly who I wanted, and I had a pretty good idea I had blown my one and only chance with her.

I didn’t even know if she lived in the city or one of the suburbs.

That evening, I went to Sweetwater with a big group of people, goons in tow. Jonathan got us a “custom” place to sit without waiting by pressing a few buttons on his phone, and those who couldn’t fit at the table all gathered around instead. It was loud, and people were packed in, but it was still a good scene. You had to like football, though.

“Hey!” Some drunk kid stumbled over to our group and leaned heavily against the table where Evan was sitting, nursing a beer he obviously didn’t like. The kid aimed his finger towards the cone-shaped hat on his head and addressed Evan. “It’s my birthday! You should buy me a drink!”

Evan tensed and glared.

“What are ya?” Jonathan asked loudly. “Nineteen?”

The kid laughed and went to harass the next table. As I watched him stumble around the bar, I saw him bump smack into a woman with long, soft blonde hair.

“Holy shit,” I muttered.

“What’s that?” Jonathan asked.

“Nothing,” I said as I pushed back and walked over in her direction.

Milena was sitting at one of the smaller, round tables with a mostly full cocktail in her hand and a glum look on her face. It was weird, but when I saw her expression, I actually felt it, too. She was obviously really upset about something, and all I could think of was that I had to do something to fix it.

“Hey, Milena,” I said softly but still loud enough to hear over the bar noise. “What’s wrong?”

She glanced up and furrowed her brow.